Armor
by kissaduck2
Summary: Percy is on his way to the Athenian army. He will meet *surprise* a certain blond haired, grey eyed girl and they will have an adventure. Rated K. :)
1. Chapter 1

**HELLO! FIRST STORY, PLEASE READ.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters just the plot, blah blah blah**

 **Chapter 1**

Percy's POV

I'm going to do it, he tried to convince himself. I can do, I can do it, I can do it. Today was the day that Percy would join the Athenian army. As he had grown up, Percy could never forget about the army. He wanted to be a gladiator, he was _going_ to be a gladiator. I can do it, I can do it, I can-

"Watch it" someone shouted at him. He was kneeling on the ground, picking up olives and putting them back in his basket.

"Sorry!" Percy got on his knees to help the young man.

"Grover." He said plainly.

"Huh?"

"My name, it's Grover."

"Sorry. I'm a nervous. Joining the Athenian army today." He said proudly. "Percy, by the way"

"Well Percy, i'd be a bit distraught if I were you. I hear that they aren't the nicest men. Good luck to you."

Just like that he got up and left. Percy stood there alone in the small village. It really was beautiful, he thought. All of these people working together to make a community. He kind of wished he could stay but this was the last village he had to walk through and it would be dark soon.

He really could use a good night sleep…

Percy found a quiet corner and put his bag down. He went to the village well and washed his face. Then he went back to his spot and laid down, using his small bad as pillow.

"You know, you could use a real pillow." Percy looked up and saw Grover leaning against the wall. Then, he tossed him something. It was a pillow. He looked up at Grover's lean figure.

"Thank you"

"I would ask you to come inside," Grover ignored his thank you. Percy guessed he was the modest type. "I work as a servant. The woman I work for wouldn't be very happy to have unannounced guests."

"It's okay. Really, I get it."

Someone shouted something incomprehensible. Grover's eyes got wide.

"I have to go." And just like that he rushed off for the second time that day.

Percy woke up early in the morning to the first speck of sun as he always did. He stood up, dusted himself off for pride and put his bag on his shoulder. He wanted to return Grover's pillow but he didn't know where to look.

"Excuse me, sir, do you happen to know where a young man named Grover lives?"

"Ah, yes. The boy who works for old Guinevere. That house over there." He pointed to a small house just like the rest of them, except her house didn't have the movement or excitement that the other houses had.

Percy walked to the house and knocked on the door, holding his breath. Grover answered the door.

"Thanks," he said as Percy handed him the pillow.

"Well, I'm off. Thanks, Grover. For everything." He smiled at the boy he smiled back.

"Maybe I'll see you sometime, Percy."

Percy walked out and headed off and daydreamed about saving people in a gleaming suit of armor. This was going to be awesome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Percy could see the entire base from where he stood. He had finally arrived, finally.

"You new?" a voice called from behind him.

Percy turned around to face a young man with short brown hair and startling green eyes.

"Yeah," he said "is there a place I can sign in or something?"

"Follow me. I'm Marcus by the way, entered a couple months ago."

"Percy."

"I know who you are"

Percy gave him a puzzled look.

"Look, new kid, the others see newcomers as fresh meat. Sometimes they will even pay someone to humiliate you. People will do weird stuff for money." He touched his knee as if it hurt but when Percy looked he didn't even see a bruise.

"This is the new one." He said to someone in front of them. Percy hadn't seen him because he had still been looking at Marcus' knee trying to figure out what he meant by the payed to humiliate statement. He looked closer at the boy in front of him. He was stoat with dark hair and a bit of stubble.

"My name is Zeke" he said toughly.

"I have a name you know." Percy was getting sick of everyone calling him 'new kid.'

"Whatever."

As Zeke walked away, Percy thought of all of the better ways he could be spending his time. Like finding a general.

"Look, I really appreciate this all but I need to find a general or something."

Percy turned on his heel in search of _someone_ who would help him with this. He walked down the slight hill and saw barracks in every direction. He remembered when he got lost in his village when he was little his mom had found him on the ground crying. "Just walk in one direction until you see something. Someone will help you find me." She had taken his hand and walked back home with him. Percy took his mother's advice now and just decided to go east toward the sun. He emerged from the barracks and found some bigger, more important looking buildings. A man walked past him. He had light blond hair, piercing blue eyes and a starting scar across his face. Percy looked at the ground as to not have to make eye contact.

"Hey. New one?"

The man had stopped walking. Percy totally would have snapped at him if he hadn't been so intimidating. He was really getting sick of being called 'new kid' or 'new one.'

Percy tried to meet his eyes. "Ya."

"Well come on then!"

The man introduced himself as Luke. He talked a lot and seemed really friendly. He still put Percy off a bit though. When Luke finally decided to stop blabbering, he pulled Percy with him to the arena he said he had to be initiated. When they got there, there were lots of people his age, 12 and 13 year olds. They all gave him knowing glances and then started laughing uncontrollably with his friends. Percy's head swum with ideas with what this could possibly be about, none of them too pleasant.

They were in a round sword arena. There was a soldier who was dressed in full body armor, from head to toe, waiting. Zeke shoved a breastplate and a sword at him and laughed, backing away. The breastplate was about four sizes too big and he could barely even lift the sword. Years in the village didn't do much for muscle. He walked slowly down to the arena dreading what would come next.

"GO" Luke barked from the stands.

The warrior took a step toward him and slashed. By some absolute miracle, Percy deflected him. As he was regaining his balance, his feet were swept out from under him and he fell on his back, hard. There were hoots and laughs from the stands. All of the sudden, Percy couldn't breathe. The soldier had a knee on his chest and his sword at his neck. Then, he stood up and raised the sword of victory and took off the helmet of victory. Soft blond curls fell out if the helmet and Percy looked at the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. His mouth fell open.

Still looking out at the crowd she said "Don't feel bad."

"Huh?"

"None of the new initiates have ever beat me."

 _She feels bad_ , Percy thought.

Then she turned abruptly and walked out of the arena, out the back door and out of his sight. Percy was still trying to figure out what she said. He raced after her and when he got outside, he said "Why do you do it?"

She laughed and said "You'll have to be more specific."

"Why do you fight all of the new initiates for these people's amusement?"

She laughed again but bitterly this time. "Why does anyone do anything around here? For the money! How do you expect a girl to make a living? Now," she said before Percy could say anything. "I have to go" and she turned around and walked away.

 _At least I know what Marcus meant now_ , he thought. _People really will do weird things for money._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **BTW: People who commented: THANK YOU**

Back at the barracks, Percy set his bag down on his newly assigned bed. All of the boys that had been in the arena were in his room. Their beds were about 6 inches away from any other bed so there were small networks he could walk through. He realized now that the barracks were organized by age. The men got older as the rows went on.

Percy couldn't believe that the other boys didn't warn him. He decided to go to the arena and take some of his energy out on a dummy. When he got to the arena, he heard someone already inside. He looked over his shoulder and Luke sparring with someone. When they circled around each other, percy could see Luke's opponent. It was the girl that he had fought with the day before. They fought at high velocity for about two minutes then the girl saw a chance and used her sword to knock his out of his hand. They both laughed.

"Sheesh, Annabeth, that was good!"

"Thanks," she laughed, "I learned from the best."

Just then, Percy slipped off of the wall and stumbled into the arena. They both looked at him.

"Um… sorry. I slipped."

"It's all right. Why don't you come join us Percy?"

Annabeth had been glaring at him as he talked- she didn't him to join them he knew. But, Luke didn't seem to notice. Plus, he hadn't had any training. He hesitated.

"Well, come on!"

There went his choice. He went over to them. Luke showed him some positions and maneuvers while the girl, Annabeth, just sat there looking bored as well as annoyed.

"Can I help?!" she asked Luke.

"No, no, Annabeth, I got it."

"Let's try it then," then she looked at me, "Percy?"

"Um… I guess." I asked, trying to sound brave. I think I failed.

She smirked, "Great."

So, we started out slow, and I started to relax. She picked up speed and I could barely keep up. Then, if possible, she went faster and knocked my sword out of my hand. She was smiling in triumph, right at Luke. _She likes him_ I realized. Then, she turned to me. That's when I noticed the astonishing color of her eyes. They were truly gray, he'd never seen that color before, with specks of blue. She smiled.

 _My legs hurt._ He thought.

Hard. Training was hard. His arms, legs and stomach were so sore it hurt to walk on uneven ground. Ow. He wondered what his mother was doing right now, probably worried sick. There was nothing he could to tell her he was fine. Though, he wished there was. He was sitting on the wall by the arena. It hurt to get up here but, the view of the whole base calmed him. He heard sound coming from the arena. He poked his head in and saw that it was Annabeth, training hard, again. She was in here almost everyday with Luke. She was alone today. He decided to take a chance.

"Hey." He said walking in.

"Hey." She never looked at him though, she was too focused beating up a dummy and he thought she might be losing. _Something is wrong._

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

She fell or more flopped on the ground and said "Luke. He's acting strange and I just-" she looked at him now, "I just don't know what to do."

"I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say. I wished she would smile.

"Hey, let's train. Will you help me."

It seemed to make her feel better that she could do something rather than attack a-not-so helpless dummy. She gave me pointers for nearly two hours, pointing out that I was holding the sword all wrong, I was punching the dummy all wrong and so on. Apparently I needed _a lot_ of work.

"Why don't you come here tomorrow, at this time. I could help you a lot." She gave me a small smile and I knew she would be okay. I walked out, not wanting her to see my smile and my (probably) blush.

"See you tomorrow!" I yelled over my shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

**If there is anyone still following my story (which I highly doubt), then I would like to apologize because I've been inactive for so long.**

 **My computer broke down a couple of days after I updated my last chapter and I JUST got a new one.**

 **Anyway, SO sorry but I will be updating my story frequently from now on.**

 **Thanks for reading! :)**

 **Chapter 4**

The next morning, I walked into the arena to see Annabeth already hacking at the dummy. At least this time, she looked like she was winning. I saw the sweat drip down her face and wondered how long she had been practicing. I watched her as I walked in, seeing how she moved so gracefully.

When I was almost behind her, she spun the sword in her hand, then around her wrist, before attacking again.

"Cool trick!" I told her. Bad move.

She came hurtling at me, and in a flash of blond she was on top of me, her forearm pressing into my throat.

I said something like, "arghilrdog!" before she realized it was me and got off.

"Sorry" she said, not looking very sorry. She helped me up and then attacked me. She was so good, with each new blow, I tripped backwards, dropped my sword or did something else that was graceful. I could barely defend myself as she kept coming at me, only stopping when we had to reset as she beat me time and time again. After about ten minutes, I needed a break, badly.

"You need to widen your grip, get better reflexes, your form is just bad…"

I tuned Annabeth out but a few seconds later she was snapping her hands in front of my face.

"Earth to Percy?" she said, looking really annoyed.

"Uh-huh totally agree."

"I asked you how you spell your name dummy- can you please listen!" she said as I started to zone out again. It was going to be a _long_ day.

}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

Later that afternoon, Annabeth and I were sparring when I finally almost got the upperhand. She had tripped when I tried to swipe at her and lost her balance. I was about to win, I knew. Then, Luke walked in and Annabeth stopped. _Dang it._

"Hey guys. Percy, you're looking a lot better. But, you need to widen your grip."

"I told him that!"

"Sure you did, Annie."

When Annabeth made a face, he laughed and his scar rippled. I studied it as he talked to Annabeth. _How did he get that scar?_ I always wondered when he was around.

Promptly after Luke arrived, Annabeth apparently decided that she was done training me for the day. She just kinda walked out.

"What was that about?" I asked Luke.

He shrugged and said "I don't know." But he looked like he did know. Before I could say anything else, he said "Let's get back to work."

Even though I was still kind of irritated with Luke for setting me up when I first got here, I had to admit that he was really talented in sword fighting. In skill, Annabeth was almost as good as him and they had a similar technique but I kept noticing how when he struck, he was fast and alert. He jumped in, made a move, and jumped out. Like a wolf fighting. Rather than attacking forcefully, he made careful moves, never doing anything that he didn't have to. Annabeth, on the other hand, struck when she saw an opportunity, not caring if it was necessary or not. I wonder who else trained her, besides Luke. Luke took advantage of my trailing thoughts and masterly swept me off my feet and held his sword to my neck.

"Concentrate. If you're thinking about other things in battle, it won't go so good for you. Focus on the task at hand."

I studied Luke's blond hair as it shined in the light.

"Is that what you do? Block out your thoughts when you fight?"

"In battle, I try not to think about anything, but when I have a lot on my mind, I come here and think it all through as I hack at a dummy. It makes things clearer."

Luke squinted through the open roof and looked up at the sun.

"I have to go. I have a meeting soon." He helped me up, then took his armor off and took the dummy off the stand and threw it on he pile of them.

"Good practice, Percy. Remember to focus." As he walked out, I thought about Annabeth earlier, how she left hurriedly when Luke got there. _What's going on with those two?_

I wanted to take a tour of the place so I started off in the direction opposite to the barracks, the training fields. I could see why so many more people decided to train here rather than the arena. The air was fresh and cool, coming off of the grass and the sun beating down on the warriors was energizing. It was more like a real battle.

I turned around and walked until I got back to the hard, dirt path that connected everything and headed to the amphitheatre. A statue of the Dionysus was sitting in the entrance, eyes boring into me. I stepped past it carefully and entered. As I walked in, my mouth almost dropped in awe. I have spent my whole life living in a little village where the most elegant thing… well there really wasn't anything beautiful, at least not in comparison to the stage made out of wood was giant and there were graceful purple curtains draped on both sides. White stone columns stood on both sides of the stage. The room was so fancy looking, I felt like I should have good manners in here. I went over to study the curtains when I heard a voice from behind me.

"Those are in honor Dionysus, god of theatre."

I must have jumped three feet in the air because when I finally got my bearings, I saw Annabeth sitting behind me with an amused expression on her face.

"When did you get here?" I asked.

"I've been here the whole time."

Probably seeing my confused face, she led me behind the seats. She started climbing up the wooden support and once she got to the top, she crawled forward, where I couldn't see her.

"Come up!" She called.

So, I climbed up the pole, with a little difficulty, I pulled myself onto little platform that was being held by the support beams running under and along the ceiling. The lighting was mostly dim up here but there was a little panel of light coming through the ceiling. Annabeth was leaning with her back to the little wall that was made by the platform and closed her eyes. She was right in the beam of light and for the first time, I saw her face clearly. She had soft, barely noticeable freckles sprinkled over her nose from time spent in the sun. She opened her eyes and I noticed again how magnificent they were.

"What?" she said, looking worried.

"Nothing, sorry, I was just looking around your den." I said in a hurry. "So, is this where you come when you're not training?"

She looked like she was trying to decide if she could tell me. She hesitated before saying, I come here when I need to be alone."

"Oh, if you want to be alone I can leave you.."

"No! No, it's ok." She said quickly.

"I brought you up here for a reason."

 **Sorry for the short chapter but with my computer I'll actually be updating. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi!**

 **So, sadly, I'm not going to be continuing this story. It hasn't been what I've wanted to be and I actually feel so bad for stopping here but I completely lost inspiration. I'm sorry to anyone reading this.**

 **-kissaduck2**


End file.
